Four Orioles still leading in All-Star Game balloting, but Nick Markakis' lead shrinking

Eduardo A. EncinaThe Baltimore Sun

Four Orioles players are still in line to start for the American League in this year’s All-Star Game at Citi Field in New York, but one race is getting extremely close, according to the latest AL all-star fan balloting results released Saturday night.

Orioles first baseman Chris Davis and center fielder Adam Jones remain among the top three overall vote-getters in the AL.

Davis is second, leading first basemen with 3,960,299 votes, well ahead of Detroit’s Prince Fielder (2,579,031). Jones is third overall and leads all AL outfielders with 3,571,693 votes. Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout is just behind Jones among outfielders with 3,548,195, and Markakis rounds out the top three with 1,915,860 votes.

Jones and Markakis can become the first pair of Orioles outfielders to earn fan-elected starting bids together in franchise history. It would also be the first time that outfield teammates received fan-elected starts together since 2005, when Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez of the Boston Red Sox were voted into the game.

Manny Machado is second in fan balloting among third basemen (2,097,804), but is well behind top overall AL votegetter Miguel Cabrera (4,337,223). Matt Wieters ranks second among catchers (2,068,032) behind the Minnesota Twins’ Joe Mauer (2,788,972).